Monday, December 9, 2013

The State of the Music Industry

The music industry isn't changing. It has changed, baby. Wake up and take a long whiff of the coffee. Some of it is for the good, but there's much more of the bad. Not just the music industry either. The changes have hit the book publishing industry and the movie industry as well.

The biggest problem?

People think the artistic things we create are theirs for the taking. Not trying to piss anybody off, but it's true. People don't want to pay artists.

Yeah, you can still make a little money with your music, but not the same kind of money you used to be able to make. There are no mega superstars like there were before. It just isn't happening. Even the established superstars are struggling to make money today.

Good thing some of us don't do it for the money. To do it for a living, we need to get paid, but we can do it anyway, whether the money is there or not. Some of us have to write songs and play. It isn't a choice. Music is what I do. It's the same for anybody who was born to write and play.

There is a bright side. The traditional record companies may be all but gone, but indie music has made giant leaps. Digital music, computers, and a plethora of songwriting and music recording software and apps have put the power of music creation and song distribution in the hands of the musicians. We get to write and record our music without expensive studio time. We can do it on our computers or tablets. That's awesome stuff.

It's a different industry for sure, but it isn't all bad. In fact, the freedom to create has never been better.


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